Michela Dianetti
Lucy Elvis
Chiara Li Mandri
Nora Ward
For most humans, picturing wild animals conjures images of packs of lions prowling along the savannah or exotic birds filling the skies above a tropical rainforest. Our local wild animal neighbours are often left out of this imaginative landscape and are overlooked as rather mundane beings unworthy of our attention. However, these local neighbours are an integral part of our urban ecosystems. Our goal is to encourage humans to adjust their imaginative abilities to recognise and appreciate the significance of the ‘mundane’ wild animals in their respective communities.
We explore the ethical and philosophical significance of attention to non-charismatic species – such as pigeons, seagulls, bugs and rodents – within human-dominated environments. We focus on the overlooked multispecies community of the Galway University campus and encourage greater attention and care towards all its inhabitants. The ‘Philosophy in the Wild’ garden on campus which acts as a space to connect with these non-charismatic species is the central hub of our research. The space also acts as an example of what it means to coexist, live and learn as a human member of what Mary Midgely would call a mixed community. From cleaning bird poop off benches and insects crawling on books to herring-gulls loudly interrupting meetings, we learn to adjust and shift in relation to the activities of other beings around us. Overall, we aim to encourage a reimagination of the campus as a co-inhabited space of care and complexity that provides hope for how we may create more spaces of coexistence that benefit all members of this mixed community.
Team Ireland is part of AIRE - an innovative approach to scholarship:
In response to contemporary individualism — reinforced by political, academic, and economic systems — AIRE challenges the assumption that meaningful scholarship must centre on individual authorship, competition, and institutional prestige. They work as a collective, embracing a hybrid, collaborative form of subjectivity. The aim is not only to demonstrate that research can emerge through shared inquiry, but to actively embody and promote this alternative model of academic work.
Some more information about the individuals nonetheless below.
Michela Dianetti
Michela Dianetti is a lecturer in Philosophy and a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Galway. Her PhD research developed a literary ethics of attention grounded in the philosophies of Simone Weil and Iris Murdoch, applying them to the literary work of Elsa Morante. She facilitates philosophical inquiries for children in Galway primary schools, as well as for young adults and older persons.
insight-centre.org/our-team/michela-dianetti/
Lucy Elvis
Lucy Elvis is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Galway, a founder of Curo Thinking for Communities a not-for-profit that focuses on empowering groups to think philosophically together in non-formal educational contexts from music festivals to art galleries and libraries and an art writer. Her research and teaching focuses on the power of art and of philosophical thinking to enrich human life.
universityofgalway.ie/our-research/people/history-and-philosophy/lucyelvis/
Chiara Li Mandri
Chiara Li Mandri is a PhD candidate at the University of Palermo, Italy. Her current research draws on Giacomo Leopardi to develop an innovative educational method to raise awareness of contemporary climate and ecological disruptions, emphasising the role of poetry and art as essential educational tools.
Nora Ward
Nora Ward is a lecturer in the philosophy department at the University of Galway. She received her BA and MA from the University of Galway and her Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. Her research focus is on environmental ethics and philosophy, with a particular interest in ecological attention, rewilding, and ecofeminism.
Week 1 – Beauty, Attention, and the Non-Charismatic
4 March, 11:00–12:00
THB-G010
We explore how aesthetic preferences shape ethical concern. Why do we notice some species and ignore others, such as pigeons, insects, or “weeds”?
Week 2 – Language, Perception, and Reimagining Experience
11 March, 11:00–12:00
THB-1001 The Bridge Meeting Room
We reflect on how language and perception shape how we understand the more-than-human world, and imagine less human-centred ways of experiencing our shared environment.
Week 3 – Multispecies Poetry (Closing Session)
18 March, 11:00–12:00 and 17:30–18:30
THB-1001 The Bridge Meeting Room
A collective creative session to compose a multispecies poem together, which will be featured in an exhibition in September.
Find out more on how to participate HERE!
Pigeons